Mr. Speaker, may I say two things in response?
First of all, the process of criminal justice reform is an area of law that uniquely engages the interests of the provinces, for they pay for much of it in terms of administration, particularly with young offenders. It seemed to the government that it was appropriate, indeed necessary, at the end of March when we convened a meeting with our provincial and territorial counterparts, to solicit their views with respect to the proposals we had. As a result of that consultation there are changes in the proposals we will be bringing forward.
The second and equally important answer that I proffer to the hon. member is this. One must not think that the problems of crime and violence in this society are going to be dealt with by specific amendments to this or that piece of legislation. That will help and we are going to do it. But what is really going to be required if we are going to make a significant difference in the safety of communities in this country is a longer term approach toward crime prevention.
The hon. member ought not to think that just changing a statute is going to get that job done.